Marquez expecting competitive campaign

Highlights – TSG 1899 Hoffenheim vs Borussia Dortmund

Marc Marquez believes fans may be about to see the most exciting MotoGP season in history, although he isn’t expecting to see the best of his Honda at the season-opening race in Qatar.

The season will get underway in Doha this weekend after a typically extensive off-season of testing, and the two-time World Champion has seen enough to believe viewers may be in for a treat.

“In the test the times were really close and in the race, it will be close here because everybody has had a test here and has a good set-up,” he told reporters.

“It looks like [the most competitive MotoGP season ever]. Especially in the tests it was really close with Ducati, Suzuki also – it looks like they are very fast and very constant also so it's important for the championship and good for the show.”

Despite rarely being one to write off his own chances, Marquez insists Honda are not expecting a spectacular start to the season, although he’s hopeful that by rounds two and three they’ll be a lot closer to the pace they need.

“This year has not been an easy pre-season as you saw on the results, but anyway we did a constant pace and in the last test here at Qatar we did a big step and we were closer,” he added.

“Anyway, we know that we will struggle on this track [Doha] because it is one of the worst tracks for us but the motivation of the race can always surprise these things and we will try to find a good pace.

“It will be a nice race, but after, when we go to Argentina and to Austin, we will see more of the difference and where we are.”